deregulate

deregulate - v. to remove regulations or restrictions from.

There are two things that this word makes me think of, both of which are worth some serious thought and debate. One is the manner in which Up Front Agency handles its idols, and the other is the way modern public schools are run. Ha, schools and talent agencies, now there's a Venn diagram!

Let's look at UFA first. For those unfamiliar with it, Up Front Agency is a Japanese talent agency that owns three record labels and signs all of the members of Hello! Project, a collective of female singers of many ages who release pop music as soloists and/or in groups and participate in a variety of other activities. H!P is home to some very talented and well-known artists. One thing that makes UFA's policies unique is the way they handle "scandals" that its idols get involved in; namely, girls as old as 22 (Yaguchi and Mikitty, anyone?) have had to leave the group they were a part of (both were members of Morning Musume) just because it was revealed that they were in romantic relationships. C-ute's 14-year-old Murakami Megumi left the agency altogether after being photographed merely walking beside a boy (though the reason for her departure is up for debate, but it still sounds ridiculous). While 17-year-old actresses and singers can be photographed smoking in America and not see much damage to their careers because of it, Kago Ai was suspended from H!P for a year for that offense. You've gotta wonder, what gives?

Fans usually speculate that the agency wants its idols to appear virginal and pure to the public, which is why they are punished if they are found to be in romantic relationships. Yet it's okay for them to project overt sexuality in music videos and songs any day, to the point of Ayaya and Mikitty KISSING each other at the end of the "Melodies" PV. You almost get the feeling that whatever idea UFA originally had for H!P's idols got messed up somewhere along the way. Now, joining H!P is like joining a convent: you're dedicating your life to one thing, and you won't be engaging in any romantic relationships anytime soon. It's a frustrating concept, especially when one's favorite idol is punished just for dating someone, when relationships are to be expected when you're dealing with such pretty and talented girls!

Recently, though, it appears that UFA may be finally progressing into the 20th century (no, that's not a typo) and loosening up a little. 20-year-old Tsuji Nozomi is pregnant and just married to a former Ultraman, and she hasn't received the boot from UFA; neither has 26-year-old (as of tomorrow! ^_^) Iida Kaori, who is also expecting a child and just married. Is it possible that the agency is being more reasonable with these idols because they are settling down instead of doing wild things and having one-night stands, which would give them far worse reputations? Whatever the case, we can only hope that Up Front Agency decides to ditch their ridiculous rules about relationships and allow its idols to experience love, because dammit, they deserve it. What UFA has become known to do in "scandal" situations is unfair and outdated, and truly needs to come to an end.

As for my second point, if you thought UFA's rules were bad, try going to the middle school I went to. The way that school was run seemed to get worse and worse over the years, and I'm not sure I even want to see what it might be like now (or when school starts up again in September, anyway). The most outrageous things that happened during my time there were mostly during my last year there, when I was in the eighth grade. We had a new vice principal that year, and while we hadn't liked the previous VP much, this one was at least 10 times worse, and made us miss the old one.

Most of you should be familiar with the way schools have two bells ring, one as a warning a few minutes before class actually starts and another one to signify the beginning of class. You're only late if you arrive after the second bell, because the first bell is merely a warning telling you that you have a few minutes to get to class. Thus, even if you arrive in the school yard after the first bell, there's still time to make it to class on time if you hurry, and you are most definitely not late. But I guess the VP we had that year was a bit confused by the whole concept, despite the nice little system we had in which the Cheers theme song would be played over the PA after the first bell rang, followed by the Jeopardy theme song which would end just before the second bell rang. (This system ruined the Cheers theme song for far too many people, sadly.) The VP decided at some point in the spring that people who got into the school yard after the first bell rang would have to run laps around the field until the second bell rang, which would actually make them late. I was amazed and appalled at the injustice of this idea, but that quickly turned into full-blown anger when this policy/torture was inflicted upon me.

It only happened to me once, but I still get mad when I remember it. My friend and I arrived in the school yard in the afternoon shortly after the first bell rang, after eating lunch at my place, and were forced to run laps around the field, despite the fact that we were wearing our black and white (but primarily black) school uniforms (which looked like total crap, by the way) and the sun was beating down on us. We could have easily made it to class on time, at that point, but instead were forced to run around the field until we were late. I honestly don't know what the VP was thinking. I grew very angry, but in middle school I was more prone to challenge authority when authority was being a bitch than just lash out like I might do now (though my high school is MUCH better than my middle school, so such opportunities to get angry don't arise as often), so I decided to test the VP. I wanted to see if he had any sympathy and humanity at all, or if he truly had a heart of ice. So, I fell down, on purpose. I'm a damn good actress, for those of you who have never seen me in a play or anything like that (don't mind my confidence XD but I've received lots of compliments, so I can't be the only one who thinks so!), so my display of pain must have been quite convincing.

The VP saw that I had fallen and was slowly getting up, trying to brush myself off and soothe my "pain." He came over to me and had the nerve to speak to me icily, giving me attitude and telling me to keep running. The more I remember this, the more this sounds like a scene from the school in Matilda, I swear. My test proved that the VP truly really didn't give a fuck about us and didn't have much of a heart at all. Even my parents will describe him as a dictator, because that was exactly what he was. He wanted all of the students to behave the same way and be exactly how he wanted them to be, 100% of the time, and he tried to force these wishes upon us constantly. Anyway, once the second bell rang, he let us all go to class, and I arrived in my classroom panting, red in the face, way too hot, and REALLY pissed off. It might have been physically possible for steam to come out of my ears, at that moment.

A similarly frustrating occurence was a morning during which the entire middle school gathered in the gym for an assembly. After a bunch of lecturing, all of the students were forced to practice walking through the hallways. I kid you not. It was one of the most ridiculous activities that I have ever had the displeasure of participating in. It was as if we were prisoners, inmates in some high-security prison being punished for horrendous crimes that we'd never committed. Each class had to practice walking to each room that they had classes in, in a single-file line and without speaking at all, with the teachers accompanying andwatching us all the while. Once this was finished, all of the classes gathered outside in the courtyard to be told that this was the way we were to walk through the halls. Of course, no class ever walked like that in the halls after that, even on that very day, and we were never actually punished for that. But the fact that we had to go through that insane activity was just so maddening that The Postal Service's "This Place is a Prison" echoed in my head for the rest of the day. The vice principal's standing as a dictator was truly proven that day.

I honestly hope that that man is no longer the vice principal of that school, and that he will never be the vice principal or principal of any school ever again. When I see kids in my building wearing the uniform for that school, I feel sincerely bad for them, because I know firsthand what kind of bullshit they likely have to put up with every day. Something really needed to change at that school, and while I can't help but believe that it's only gotten worse since then, I honestly hope that things have gotten better there. The rules became more and more outrageous as time went by - they even specified one day that safety pins were not allowed to be worn on your uniform (most people just wore their own black and white clothes instead of the uniform, though anything with visible designs and logos was not allowed), and I heard that starting in the first fall that I would be attending high school, everyone would have to wear black socks and shoes. Considering the downright ghetto-ness of our uniforms, that was just such an unreasonable expectation. No one was going to follow a rule like that, and what could they do, send the whole school home? The dictatorship-like restrictions of that school desperately needed to be changed, and I hope that they have.

On the day of high school orientation, I went back to my middle school with a few friends for a brief visit (and my only visit to the school since I started high school). I was wearing a few wristbands, including a leather one with metal stars on it, and the vice principal said to me, "They allow this paraphenilia at your school?" (Paraphenilia! I've only ever heard that word preceded by "drug"!) I calmly replied that they have no problem with it, but I was mildly in awe. That man just never fails to amaze me with his ridiculousness. It felt good, though, getting to tell him that the school I now attend allows something that he doesn't, and I'd love to go back and visit my middle school now wearing my most brightly-colored outfit, just to stick out in the sea of black and white. Blasting something really loud and screamy from my iPod would make it a sufficiently satisfying "fuck you" to the people running that hell hole.

I hope you've enjoyed my first entry in Jounetsu no Kotoba. Whenever I feel the need to write about something that doesn't fit into any of my other blogs (not something in particular, but just in general), I will open up the dictionary to a random page, close my eyes, and put my finger on a word, and then write an entry here inspired by that word. I hope you will enjoy my latest blogging endeavour!